S7 Ep5: Peel Back The Curtain | 24/7

Somerset House Podcast

Slipping between the real and the imaginary. Filmmaker Liam Young uncovers the concept behind his film Renderlands, which portrays a global network of 24/7 workers generating popular Western culture from films to video games.
Artists explore the non-stop nature of modern life.

Liam Young’s short fiction film Renderlands is set in the sphere of videogame companies and render farms in India highlighting a global network where outsourced workers operate 24/7. In Western design studios, wireframed structures are sketched out for imaginary cities and landscapes, which are then rendered by anonymous workforces in other countries into the high-precision digital architectures of video games and films. Renderlands is a utopia that exists in the screen alone – a virtual city that stretches from Los Angeles to Bangalore, constructed from the remnants of demolished landmarks, alien invasions, and outsourced dreams.

Featuring contributions from exhibition curator Sarah Cook and Jonathan Reekie, co-curator of 24/7 and Director of Somerset House.

The exhibition 24/7 - A Wake Up Call For Our Non-Stop World at Somerset House takes visitors on a multi-sensory journey from the cold light of the moon to the fading warmth of sunset through five themed zones and contains over 50 multi-disciplinary works that will provoke and entertain. The exhibition runs at Somerset House until 23 February 2020.

Producer: Eleanor Scott

Sound Design: Harry Murdoch

Mixed by Nick Ryan

Featuring excerpts from Renderlands by Liam Young.